Wednesday, October 24, 2007

New Meat

Just got done putting new rubber on Michele's and my mountain bikes.

Michele's been running the same Hutchinson Scorpions since we picked up her bike over a year and a half ago. I kinda thought them shit tires when I first saw them but never got around to picking up replacements. Our recent foray onto muddy trails confirmed that she needed something new. She gets the Michelin's that I bought for last year's potential mudfest that wasn't, ToWM. They're 2.0s, just like the Hutchinsons, but they have a more open and deeper tread pattern(especially since the Hutchinsons are bald). I only put a mere 42 miles on them, in fact the one that I had up front still has all it's nubbies.

For my bike I picked up a pair of WTB VelociRaptors. The 2.1 tires are much smaller than what I'm used to and they kind of look funny on the bike. The tires have been around forever and have a tried and true tread pattern, very similar to the Kona Scratch and Sniff tires that I loved so much back in the day. I've been running the same 2.5 WTB Weirwolf up front for the last two and a half years and it's held up amazingly well, well enough in fact that it's going to go back on the bike when the trails dry out again next year. My back tire won't be so lucky, it's a Maxxis Ignitor that was new for this year's WOR and is almost completely bald after a mere five months. It's a decent tire with pretty good grip but didn't last me anywhere near long enough. Unless the rear VelociRaptor knocks my socks off I'll be in the market for a new rear summer tire come next spring.

I'm hoping to get in a couple of rides this weekend to try out the new setup. Michele works Saturday but maybe she'll be able to get out there with me on Sunday.